Meet Kyla Herbes, equal parts creative director and intellectual feral raccoon

I brake for questionable furniture and a good record shop. I have expensive taste, rock secondhand jeans, and have a tendency to investigate a lamp like it’s withholding evidence.

Welcome to House of Hipsters, your new interior design obsession

I’m a self-taught interior designer, former vintage dealer, and lifelong collector of things that require the explanation, “Okay, but look at it.”

My taste runs from a sculptural vintage chair to a jacked-up ’83 GMC pickup truck. A Saint Lauren shirt worn with camo pants. Vintage silver-faced audio equipment. Art that makes you pause for a second before deciding you love it.

Wisconsin roots. Enthusiastic rummaging. Sophisticated, with something slightly off.

Preferably the lamp.

A late ADHD diagnosis explained a few things

Including why “I’m just going to look up this chair” can become an independent study in furniture design, upholstery, and the history of a manufacturer nobody asked for.

I talk openly about having ADHD because getting diagnosed later in life gave me a different way to understand myself. There’s a lot to reconsider when you finally have a name for something you’ve been living with for years.

Around here, I affectionately call myself an intellectual feral raccoon, constantly searching for a dopamine hit. Preferably one with good patina.

The intellectual wants to know who designed it, how it was made, and whether I can fix it.

The raccoon has already put it in the truck.

That’s shorthand for my own particular mix of curiosity, deep dives, and treasure hunting. ADHD also comes with difficulties, and a spectacular estate-sale find doesn’t magically sort those out. I’m still figuring out what works for me, and I share that part, too.

You can appreciate a beautifully composed room and still struggle to get started on something. I contain multitudes. And several open tabs.

“Where the hell did you find that?”

I’m asked this question quite often.

Usually, the answer involves a flea market, an estate sale, a small obscure shop.

I used to sell vintage furniture and decor, which gave me plenty of practice of spotting a potential gem hidden beneath terrible upholstery. I will find the piece everyone else walked past. Sometimes it needs new fabric. Sometimes it needs the right room. Sometimes everyone else was correct, and we don’t need to discuss those purchases.

House of Hipsters is where I share the good stuff. Eclectic home decorating ideas, ways to mix vintage and modern furniture, unusual art, and unique shopping sources worth bookmarking.

I’ll show you what I splurge on, where I save, and how I pull it together. Finding an incredible chair is one thing. Making it work with the sofa you already own is where it gets interesting.

Expect practical advice, strong opinions, and the occasional object you may need a minute with.

The stereo is part of the decor

My love of dancing began at an underage club. Apparently, it was formative.

Put on ’90s Chicago house music and Fast Eddie, and I’m going to need some floor space. From Boston, Blondie, Madonna, to Franc Moody. Throw in a side of The Cure, New Order, Depeche Mode. Then maybe Turnstile or Panic Shack, depending on the day.

Choosing one genre sounds unnecessarily restrictive (hello ADHD). I have similar feelings about choosing one decorating style.

My morning ON THE TURNTABLE picks and playlists are part of life around here (you’ll find them on my morming Instagram Stories). So is braking for a good record shop when I was technically supposed to be somewhere else.

I have my dad’s vintage Dual turntable and a weakness for old silver-faced audio equipment. The knobs. The glowing dials. The deeply satisfying business of putting on a record and flipping it 30 minutes later.

I also fixed up a high school friend’s father’s turntable all by myself. I reserve the right to mention this whenever I please.

Getting an old thing working again is a very good feeling. Getting to play Heart of Glass on it afterward is better.

Before the furniture, there was the art department

I worked my way from production artist to creative director in advertising, spending years thinking about color, composition, and what makes someone stop and look.

Eventually, that eye wandered into every room of my house.

I started House of Hipsters in 2013. Since then, my work has appeared in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, and Apartment Therapy, and I’ve been named a Better Homes & Gardens Style Maker.

I’m proud of that work. I’m equally available to discuss the strange painting you found on Marketplace.

Please send the painting.

My latest project comes with childhood memories

Last year, I bought my childhood home in Wisconsin. I call it Devi-Bara.

There’s something funny about returning to the house where you grew up and realizing you’re now allowed to make the design decisions.

I have thoughts.

Devi-Bara is where I’m puttering, experimenting, rearranging, and figuring things out as I go. Working on a house you already know so well gives you plenty to think about and plenty of opportunities to see it differently.

The drives between Illinois and Wisconsin also required a Devi-Bara road-trip playlist.

Naturally, I made you one.

I intend to ride this life until the wheels fall off

I’m 51. I still want to go to punk shows, dance to house music, discover an artist I’ve never heard of, and wear fancy vintage jewelry with big sunnies to the grocery store.

I have no intention of retiring any of that because someone has an opinion about what women my age should be doing.

There are records I haven’t heard. Places I haven’t been. And some truly spectacular furniture I haven’t found yet.

That’s the spirit of House of Hipsters. Follow the thing that catches your eye. Learn how to make it work. Let your home reflect the interests, experiences, and peculiar little obsessions that make you interesting.

Come for the decorating ideas. Stay for the cool hunting, the music, and whatever I’ve decided I can fix myself this week.

Oh and if we’re going somewhere, leave room in the truck.